In Stockholm, Sweden, we had lots of snow beginning some time around December 15, then lots of cold, then hoar and rime frost and all mixtures in between, then a little less snow (it compacted) and less cold, but streets slippery as wobbly skating rinks (old people stayed indoors or broke arms and legs), then these last few days a lot more snow, and just now, a lot more cold again.
The blackbirds have finally decided to go for all the rowanberries that have loaded the trees until now. A fantastic globe-shaped rowan in the Botanical gardens looked still red with berries today, but it was just the empty stalks. Some very annoyed blackbirds told me to get off. They have still left the white, pink, yellow and black rowanberry varieties alone (actually the pink ones - a very clear pink - taste much nicer for humans than the ordinary red ones).
Rabbits and hares make preparatory walks around apple trees, but no one cared to even nibble at the nice fresh tulip leaves and rose stalks that I left for them. It seemed interesting to check in the botanical gardens what they preferred of all the exotic varieties of trees, shrubs and bushes - what a smörgåsbord! - but there were just "hare paths", broad as motorways, and no eating raids on anything special.

Great description Liis!
How come there are so many hares or rabbits in Helsinki and Stockholm?? i have hardly heard about any in Tallinn
and i was just thinking some days earlier that with all the forest webcams, we have never spotted any hares there!?
and they should be the most common habitant there....there is a very simple explanation for that i am sure!
but one can ask ( as a saying goes...one fool can ask more questions than hundred smart ones could answer )

Kuremari wrote: --- How come there are so many hares or rabbits in Helsinki and Stockholm?? i have hardly heard about any in Tallinn

Aahhh - that is, for Stockholm, a long, fascinating and educational biological story: balance in nature, genetics, adaption, human behaviour, urban vs rural nature, population evolution, pet vs pest - you name it, it is there! Goes back about 10-15 years (and with a recent gruesome although ecological? sequel).
One answer is partly in a question: how come they were nearly all small, coal black, green-eyed?
It was pet rabbits, let loose when parents and kids tired of caretaking tasks. And curiously, they kept to the city.
Why not in Tallinn: this is a guess - there may be more loose dogs and even large cats, possibly birds of prey, in Tallinn. Maybe also handier humans who haven't lost the skill of snaring rabbits. It took at least 10 years for the Stockholm rabbits to explode into that very noticeable population.

Kuremari wrote: and i was just thinking some days earlier that with all the forest webcams, we have never spotted any hares there!? ----

Yes - so was I. Last night with the beautiful moonlight at eagle camera and all calm, no foxes or eagles around any longer. The hares can't be all camouflage white and invisible?

I hope I have put these in the correct place if not maybe they can be moved to the proper place....just some photos from my house this morning...the leaves are beginning to change and fall rapidly....this is my favorite time of the year....

Looking down my street:

The trees are so colorful now:

Many lovely colors:

S7-Nori-F?
S8-Uno-M?
S9-Elo-F?

"There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a
landscape as it was before." ~ Robert Lynd

Thank you Manu.....it was a beautiful day today.....the sky was as blue as I have ever seen it.....the leaves have continued to fall all day so looks like raking is in our future....again....already have 4 large bags filled.....

S7-Nori-F?
S8-Uno-M?
S9-Elo-F?

"There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a
landscape as it was before." ~ Robert Lynd

One of the trees in front of my house from my balcony yesterday late afternoon

“One can measure the greatness and the moral progress of a nation by looking at how it treats its animals”(Mahatma Gandhi)"You can judge a man's true character by the way he treats his fellow animals"(Paul McCartney)